Methods for managing animal processing operations

Abstract

Methods for managing animal processing operations are described that include scheduling animals for processing according to risk of contamination.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of managing an animal processing operation, said method comprising: 
 a) providing biological samples from a plurality of animals;    b) determining microbial load of each said biological sample; and    c) scheduling processing of said plurality of animals based at least in part on said microbial load.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said animals are birds.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said birds are chickens or turkeys.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said animals are pigs.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said animals are cows.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said animals are fish.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein microbial load is total number of enteric bacteria.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein scheduling comprises ranking said animals from lowest microbial load to highest microbial load and integrating said ranking with one or more factors selected from the group consisting of number of animals to be processed, weight targets of animals, proximity of animals to animal processing facility, and time of delivery of animals to animal processing facility.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , said method further comprising determining the microbial profile of each said biological sample and scheduling processing of said plurality of animals based at least in part on said microbial load and microbial profile.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein scheduling comprises ranking said animals from lowest risk to highest risk based on said microbial load and microbial profile to provide a risk profile; and integrating said risk profile with one or more factors selected from the group consisting of number of animals to be processed, weight targets of animals, proximity of animals to animal processing facility, and time of delivery of animals to animal processing facility.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the microbial profile comprises histological analysis.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the microbial profile comprises immunological analysis.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the microbial profile comprises genetic fingerprinting.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the microbial profile comprises ribosomal genotyping.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the microbial profile comprises cpn60 genotyping.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said plurality of animals comprises a plurality of different populations of animals.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein said biological samples comprise pooled samples from each said population of animals.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said biological samples are gastrointestinal tract samples.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said gastrointestinal tract samples are digesta.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said gastrointestinal tract samples are mucous and/or mucosal tissue.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said gastrointestinal tract samples are feces.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said biological samples are periodontal samples.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said biological samples are bodily fluids.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein said bodily fluids are selected from the group consisting of blood, urine, saliva, sputum, and semen.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein said microbial profile is based on taxonomic and phylogenetic identification of microbes in said biological sample.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein said microbes are selected from the group consisting of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi.  
     
     
         27 . A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a programmable processor to rank a plurality of animals from lowest microbial load to highest microbial load.  
     
     
         28 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 27 , further comprising instructions for scheduling processing of said plurality of animals based at least in part on said rank.  
     
     
         29 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 27 , further comprising instructions for scheduling processing of said plurality of animals based on said rank and one or more factors selected from the group consisting of number of animals to be processed, weight targets of animals, proximity of animals to animal processing facility, and time of delivery of animals to animal processing facility.  
     
     
         30 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 27 , further comprising instructions for causing said programmable processor to determine a risk profile for said plurality of animals based on microbial loads and microbial profiles from said plurality of animals and to rank said plurality of animals from lowest risk to highest risk.  
     
     
         31 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 30 , further comprising instructions for scheduling processing of said plurality of animals based on said risk profile and one or more factors selected from the group consisting of number of animals to be processed, weight targets of animals, amount of feed, proximity of animals to animal processing facility, and time of delivery of animals to animal processing facility.  
     
     
         32 . A system for scheduling a plurality of animals for processing, said system comprising: 
 a) means for inputting microbial loads of said plurality of animals;    b) means for inputting microbial profiles of said plurality of animals; and    c) a processor for (i) correlating microbial load and microbial profiles with risk and (ii) scheduling said plurality of animals for processing based at least in part on risk.    
     
     
         33 . A method of managing an animal processing operation, comprising: 
 a) providing a risk profile of a plurality of animals; and    b) communicating said risk profile to a manager of said animal processing operation.